David R

Supermarket is pricey compared to the asian market type places, if you can handle their stinky seafood/butchery departments!! I think I usually pay about $12/kg for frozen raw peeled prawns.

haha yeah need the JDM style tank!! :lol: Being a complete noob to planted tanks, aside from hairgrass what is a good carpet-forming plant??

Damn they're inspiring!! I'd love to do a tank just with a carpet of hairgrass or similar and a huge school of cardinals...

Give him a call on 021900727 He's built a 4x2x2' reptile enclosure and a 150x70x60cm tank with overflow for me and both have been excellent. I'm sure others can vouch for his work too.

Fixed... :lol:

Wairarapa ain't in Auckland! :lol: If you're after a new tank then Greg/Tanks2U is always well-priced and builds quality tanks to any dimensions/specs. Alternately try TradeMe as you can often pick up a good bargain second hand. As for other equipment, I'd suggest supporting the specialist stores that carry a good range of fish/gear/food rather than going for the all-out cheapest nastiest stuff from some garage-trader on trademe. Hollywood Fish Farm in Mt Roskill and Albany are always good, and there are a few other small stores like Pupuke who are worth a visit. Times are tough for small business, so its good to support those who support the hobby (not the chain-stores that carry a minimal range of fish and whos staff don't know a cardinal from a clown loach either). There are a few people on here who breed some nice african cichlids, Johannes would be one but I think he's almost completely gone out of malawi's, and Ryanjury is another. I'm sure they'll add their 2c in...

Pressure Pipe (the skinny stuff you use for returns) is used for tap water isn't it, and is held together with that glue?? :-?

Yep. I cut and do a dry pre-assemble , then mark the angles by drawing a like across the joins that I can line up when glueing and assemble it outside because the glue stinks!!

It would nearly seem like a waste of time when you can just buy one off the yard that already has a turbo, could be cool I guess. Someone on this forum owns a civic with a B18CR and a Jackson Racing supercharger, and damn its a fun little car to drive! Supercharger gets it off the mark pretty quickly and then as the revs pick up it just keeps pulling through to 8500rpm.

Damn that sounds cheap!! *edit* maybe not then, I just checked the prices on Amazon.com and his reptile books are a lot cheaper than the plant ones, his first one which is now out of print is about $125US used, if you can get a copy!

Agree, use the proper PVC glue, and let it dry for at least 24 hours before putting any water thru it. I used that for my return plumbing, but the overflow is just pushed together.

Wow, I didn't know Vosjoli was a reptile person as well as a plant person!! His plant books are amazing, apart from the fact that they don't have an index...

Are the filters well established? If you're pulling it down and setting it up straight away it will be just like a 100% water change, the filters are far more important than the water.

Just to raise the bar from Varanophile's thread about Australia, check out these pics from a US Reptile Expo (that apparently sucked according to the OP!). http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... p?t=194443 I think I could nearly put up with the accents, patriotism and gun-toting weirdos for some of those snakes...

Complete and utter waste of money, talk about doing it the hard way! If you want forced induction, sell it now before you spend a cent on it and buy a Spec-R, then you get the actual DET motor that was built for boost with lower compression etc, 5-stud hubs, bigger brakes, etc etc etc.

Keep him well fed and he shouldn't bother the loaches, just watch the size difference as the ornate will grow a lot faster than the loaches!

For sure, good pads and fluid should be next on the list after good suspension and tyres! Aftermarket calipers can also reduce the unsprung weight which has a big effect on handling. I've heard nothing but good things about these guys: http://www.racebrakes.co.nz/

Paul/Smidey; the GTX and the Nissan have two different types of AFM, the GTX has a "flapper" with a flap that opens more or less depending on how much air is being sucked through, and the Nissans have the "hot wire" one which has a wire with an electrical current running through it and works on temperature.

LOL bring that poxy starlet to the next NZHondas track day at Taupo and we'll see just how much you can't really expect from an NA car... :roll: To be perfectly honest you're kinda wasting your time with the Spec-S, if you wanted performance you should have saved a bit more and started with the Spec-R. You will get a small gain from doing I/H/E but it still won't get you close to a stock Spec-R. But to answer your question, doing a few basic bolt-on mods shouldn't have any effect on the lifespan of your motor. Keep it well serviced, don't give it death when its cold, etc and you should have a good run with it. If you're more of a circuit/cornering guy then forget about the motor and spend some money on some decent coil-overs, lighter rims with good tyres (yes folks, wheels are actually a performance mod if you don't buy big ugly heavy chromes!!), and perhaps some uprated sway bars and braces. That way if you do decide to upgrade to a Spec-R (or just drop an SR20DET in) then you'll still be reaping the benefits, unlike you would with mods to the motor. Speaking from personal experience, I got far more enjowment out of doing handling upgrades to my civic than I did doing a B18C-R swap, blowing a heap of cash on a new motor and close ratio box made it a heap quicker, but not really that much more fun than the stock B16A...

Yes but Mr Nature doing a constant 100% water change does help.

Would be good if you (or anyone) can remember where to get the fresh water ones from Ryan!

I've seen a few different aro tattoos. There's a guy on monsterfishkeepers with a big dat tattood on his back...

Seen them around, fingers crossed that those with them are doing their best to breed them and make them more available! IIRC the going rate is usually around $1500

Telling us exactly what he/she is so we can offer advice would be a good start.

Anyone tried it? This post on MFK got me interested in the idea. Would it be safe to go catch some shrimp at an estuary somewhere, rinse them in fresh water and then feed them to the fish?